Apocalyptic Rapunzel
by Heather Giesbrecht
Summary: Neo hadn't expected Apoc to be worried about him. Cypher sneered at Apoc in response and jeered, "Why do you care, Rapunzel ?" Slash - Neo/Apoc. Chapter 3 - Betrayal for the Apocalypse posted. Complete.
1. Apocalyptic Rapunzel

_Author's Note:_The only thing I own is Apoc's sister - Rapunzel.

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**Apocalyptic Rapunzel**

Startled as he was shoved against the blue metal mess-room wall, Neo let out a surprised huff. Cypher snarled, "Move it, pretty boy." as he moved past, his baldhead shining in the harsh light.

Weary, he pushed himself off the wall and turned around, Apoc walked in a few seconds later. He didn't expect Apoc to stop beside him and ask, "Are you all right, Neo ?"

That caught him by surprise and mentally he panicked. Apoc with his dark-brown eyes, light-olive skin and long, curly black-hair was one of the handsomest guys he'd ever met. When he'd first met Apoc the man had seemed familiar in some way, he couldn't remember what way, though. '_Apoc is talking to me. Apoc is talking to me ! Oh, God, what do I do ? Do ? How about try not to sound like an idiot ?'_

After a second, when he managed to stammer, "I, uh, I-I'm f-fine, Apoc." he felt a bit better.

Apoc's lips pulled back into a smile, "That's good, Neo, you're doing fine for being new. Now, Cypher are you just having a bad day, is it because, some how, Neo's annoying you or are you being a jerk for the hell of it ? Or taking a fourth option all of the above ?"

Cypher sat down at the table as Apoc walked up to the counter. Cypher sneered, the gray-eyes disdainful, at first him and then Apoc, as he retorted, "Why do you care, Rapunzel ?"

At that comment, he thought he saw Apoc's shoulders tense at the jab. _'Rapunzel ? Well, at least, it makes sense, huh, just how long is his hair ? I don't think I've ever seen it down.' _

While he sat down on the far side of the table from Cypher, he saw Apoc had filled two bowls and was now walking toward him. Apoc handed him a bowl, before sitting down beside him and glaring at Cypher. "Simple - I remember how much of an asshole you were when I first got on-board. You were only a few months older than me and…you thought you could boss me around."

Cypher's sneer turned into a smirk, "Yeah, I remember the one time you had to get saved by Rapunzel and Switch. Really, you should stop worrying about Neo and worry about cutting your hair. At least, I've never gotten hit on for looking like a girl with my hair down. Hey, Neo, you know what made it even better ? It was…"

Apoc, normally calm, suddenly slammed a fist down on the table and snarled, "Shut the **fuck** up, Cypher."

He tried to turn his attention away from the conversation and eat. It seemed impossible with that last sentence echoing in his head. _'I don't think I've ever heard him swear before either. So, what was Cypher going to say that upset him that much.'_

It was probably the fact that Apoc had just defended him, but he found himself putting a hand on Apoc's arm. From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw the smile from minutes ago return slightly. Apoc nodded his thanks, then got up and pulled away before he stalked around the table and punched Cypher in the face.

His relieved laughter surprised him as Cypher landed with a thud on the floor, he chuckled, "Nice one, Apoc."

Apoc replied, "Thanks, Neo. Don't let Cypher scare you, he's just a wimp in the real."

At the same time Cypher got up with a glare at Apoc, while he rubbed his jaw and walked out, headed for the infirmary.

Then Apoc returned to sitting beside him and eating. It was a comfortable silence, then he and the longhaired man both looked up as Trinity walked in. The tall, short-black haired First Mate looked confused at seeing them eating together. Apparently, she shook it away as she greeted them with, "Morning."

"Morning, Trinity." Both Apoc and he shared an incredulous look, before they started laughing. _'That's kind of creepy, considering Apoc and I've never talked before. How did we think of that at the same time ?'_

Trinity ignored their in-tandem greeting and said, "Apoc, Morpheus wants you to help Neo find something to wear for missions."

All the response from Apoc was, "Okay.", before they went back to eating.

In the Construct

It still surprised him to go from seeing the backs of his eyelids to the bright, white space of the loading program. Apoc stood beside him, now he could see just how different Apoc's RSI was from his real self.

Apoc wore a pair of dark rectangular shades with rounded edges that hid his eyes. His skin was now lightly tanned and his long-black hair had smoothed itself out and was in a coiled-up ponytail. The tight, black and white shirt Apoc wore was a mix of speckles, small stripes and scale-patterns. Over top of it was a short, black-suit jacket, completing the look were a pair of fitted black pants.

He shifted slightly as he looked at his own loose, black canvas jacket, plain green t-shirt and black pants. '_I look like a homeless person compared to Apoc and his finery. That suit still looks damned good on him, though.' _

As he looked around at the emptiness, he asked, "So, you're really gonna help me find something ? Because, seriously, Apoc, I can't think of anything that I'd look good in."

A chuckle from the other man, "I think we'll go with something mainly black then." as racks and racks of clothes whooshed into being around them.

Apoc started rifling through the clothes before he pulled out a black, button-down, shirt with a red dragon on the shoulder. Before he took it from Apoc, he slid off his jacket and took off his green shirt to drape them over the rack. It took a few seconds for him to get all the buttons, it felt colder suddenly, he shivered and rubbed his arms.

"Apoc, does it normally cool suddenly ?" Tilted his head when he noticed that Apoc had closed his eyes tightly. "Are you all right, Apoc ?"

Dark-brown eyes opened slowly and confusedly, as if Apoc had forgotten where he was. The 'older' rebel nodded, "I'm fine, Neo. It's just my twin sister, Rapunzel, we were here in the Construct when something went wrong and…she died in here. Sometimes, like now, I wonder if she's not still trapped in here. The reason I've never cut my hair is because I want to remember her. She always had her hair up like this."

"Oh, I-I'm sorry, Apoc. Was she freed on the same day as you ?"

That got a smile from his new friend, "Yeah, we did everything together. Including finding out about the Matrix. Our parents always said that since I destroyed things that I was the apocalypse and well, Rapunzel had always liked that fairy-tale and she'd always had long hair. Our names were practically ours before we even knew what they meant."

Instinctively, he smiled back and replied, "You're lucky you had a sibling. I was the only kid my parents ever had, everyone else I was friends with had siblings. Can I ask, is that why you punched Cypher before ?"

"Mm-hm, he tried to come on to Rapunzel once and got kicked in the nuts. I wasn't much for confrontation back then, so, I hid behind Rapunzel a lot. One day, Morpheus sent Rapunzel, Cypher and I on a mission. It was a simple one : Rapunzel and Cypher would track a potential red-pill and I would guard the exit. I was sitting on the abandoned buildings steps with my hair down. It surprised me when a big guy walked up and started flirting with me.

Rapunzel called, "You do know that's my twin brother, right ?"

Finally, I looked up at the guy and he tried to punch me, as if it were my fault, he'd mistaken me for a girl. It didn't help that Cypher was egging the guy on as I defended myself. That was the day that Cypher started calling me, "Apocalyptic Rapunzel." After Rapunzel died, he was an asshole and just started calling me by her name."

When he heard that, it made him want to go and give Cypher a punch of his own. _'I can't believe even Cypher would be that much of a bastard. Okay, I can more than a little.'_

Shook himself as he took off the dragon shirt and said, "I really don't think this one fits me, Apoc."

Apoc hummed and took it back from him, "For some reason, I've always found the Matrix much cooler than the real world. Plus, you don't really seem like a short-sleeves kind of guy. Need to find you a nice duster or something and some shades, too."

With those words, his friend turned back to the rack and pulled out a plain black, long-sleeved shirt. It fit nicely when he finished putting it on, he blushed as Apoc let out a whistle. _'It can't be that bad if Apoc likes it. Now, could he actually like me or is he just playing around ?'_

Months later…

He opened his bedroom door and startled to see Apoc standing in front of it. Apoc smiled almost nervously at him, "Could we talk for a second, Neo ?"

Stepped back to allow Apoc to enter as he replied, "Sure, you're not hurt or something are you ?"

"N-no, I'm just fine, well, apart from this one thing."

Closed his door and encouraged, "You can tell me anything, Apoc, I won't tell anyone."

It surprised him when he turned and Apoc hadn't moved that far away. Dark-brown eyes were nervous and then Apoc ran a hand through his hair. _'He's actually wearing his hair loose for once, it's got to be something serious. Let it be, "I love you.", please. Please, don't let me be imagining this.'_

Despite having hoped for it for months, he still didn't expect Apoc to kiss him. It was a soft kiss and he twined his fingers into Apoc's hair, trying to pull the man closer to him. Apoc had backed up and they'd fallen back on his bed when there was a loud bang on his door. Reluctantly, but quickly they separated and he opened the door to see Morpheus.

Morpheus didn't comment on the fact that Apoc was with him, just said, "We're taking you to see the Oracle. Both of you, go and get your chairs ready we jack-in in ten minutes."

They both said, "Yes, sir." simultaneously.

Ten minutes later, they'd jacked-in and were headed for the hotel's back exit. A hand landed on his shoulder and pulled him back slightly. He turned to smile at Apoc, the other man smiled back, "I love you." Like months ago, they started laughing and then his love handed him a holstered gun.

An hour later…

The shout of, "**Apoc !**" left his lips as the long black-haired man suddenly fell to the floor, just like Switch had moments ago. He rushed over and knelt down to put a hand against Apoc's neck. There was no pulse and it took a second for him to realize that the harsh sobbing came from him.

Trinity's angered growl of, "God damn you, Cypher." seemed a thousand miles away.

_'Apoc's dead, Apoc's dead. Why couldn't Cypher have just killed me instead of him ? That fucking bastard, if I could wake up right now I would kill him. He betrayed us and now Apoc's dead. Even though I'm not the One, I'll still save Morpheus, like Apoc would want me to, it's the right thing to do.'_

A blur of time later and he stood in the Construct with Trinity. That made him stare down at the outfit that Apoc had helped him pick out so many months ago. It got cold suddenly and then a soft voice, "He's okay."

That voice made him jerk his head up to see a dark-brown eyed, light-olive skinned younger woman with her hair in a coiled ponytail. She wore a purple and black duster, silver-shirt and black-pants. Incredulous at the similarity to Apoc, he whispered, "Rapunzel ?"

Trinity asked from beside him, confused, "What ?"

The weight of the gun Apoc had given him before reappeared, as he blinked away sudden tears. Rapunzel nodded in answer, then Apoc, his hair loose like this morning, appeared beside her. Apoc and Rapunzel said simultaneously, with identical smiles to him, "Apocalypse and Rapunzel, together again."

Knowing what he knew now, he smiled and said, "Nothing, let's go."

_'With them beside me, this will work I know it will.'_

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**Please review.**


	2. Alternate Apocalypse

_Author's Note:_What would have happened if Apoc had lived ? It would've been an...

**Alternate Apocalypse**

Apoc still couldn't believe he was alive, if Tank had reached the EMP gun a few seconds later Cypher would've killed him. _'I saw Rapunzel too, she must have helped him reach the gun and save me. Thank God, Neo's alive; I thought that Agent was going to kill him. How did he do that ? I've never seen a human dodge bullets before, but he managed and the only one that's really bothered him is in his thigh.'_

Impatiently, he shifted between the phone booth and abandoned wooden ticket-booth of the train station, as Trinity left. The harsh florescent light made Neo's already pale skin look washed-out and the small, bloody graze on Neo's shoulder stand out. They'd decided just before Neo and Trinity left, that there would've been too many bullets flying around for him to help them save Morpheus.

Now, with Trinity finally gone, he moved forward _a_s he hugged Neo the man winced. He murmured, "I'm glad you're alive, Neo."

A soft laugh in response, "Me too, love." This time it was Neo who kissed him, in a difference from this morning it was also desperate. Pushed against the wall as Neo stroked his hips and thighs, his own hands roamed everywhere they could without touching the grazes.

The sound of a throat clearing startled them both and, again, himself and Neo broke apart. He panted as he turned his head to look and stared along the dirty, graffiti-covered wall at the green-suited Agent who stood a few feet away from them. Something about the Agent felt a bit familiar, but he couldn't remember what.

_'__**God**__,__** what is with these fucking people ?**__ First, it was Morpheus and now a freaking Agent. Is this going to happen __**every**__ time I get close to Neo ? I'm going to start a real apocalypse if it happens again. Wait, wait a second - why was the Agent just standing there and __**watching us**__ when he should've been __**killing us **__?'_

Neo hissed, annoyed, "What do you want, Smith ?"

He added, now more confused than angry, "And why were you watching us ?"

They both tensed as Smith walked up to them. His confusion increased and he blinked as the Agent reached up to brush his fingertips over Neo's cheekbone. Thought he saw Smith's eyes flicker from Neo to him behind the shades.

It surprised him that Smith actually sounded sad when he replied, "What else can I do when the ones that I want are the ones I cannot have ?"

All he could do was look between his love and Smith. _'Well, I definitely didn't expect him to basically say, "I love you." I didn't think Agents even had feelings, is he supposed to have feelings ?'_

Neo's annoyance changed to mirror his own confusion, "You…since when ? Why would you let Cypher make a deal if you love us and you **knew** that he was going to kill us too ?"

Smith moved back and pulled his shades off before he answered, "Do you think it was **easy** for me to agree with it ? I had to accept Mr. Regan's conditions, whatever they were, or I would have given myself away to the System. Nothing, not even my superiors, could make me hurt either of you, Neo, Apoc, without a warning. Now, go on, get out of here, my lovely rebels."

For a second, he stared entranced into Smith's icy sky-blue eyes. As the air chilled, the familiarity clicked and he blurted, "You, Smith, you're the one that let Rapunzel and I go !"

**Flashback**

He pulled Rapunzel up as she fell from the bullet that'd just flown through her calf. Her dark-brown eyes hazed with pain. They both had mom's eyes and their mom had gotten used to pain with her sickness.

Instinct made him look over his shoulder at the darkened theater. There weren't any approaching footsteps to signal that Cypher had found them. _'Fucking hell, Cypher you really ran without a call didn't you. You asshole I'll kill you someday.'_

The fact there weren't any Agents in the doorway, either, made him antsy. Rapunzel leaned against him, her straight, black ponytail blurred into his own loose, curly black-hair. With his arm supporting his twin, he walked and she limped down the sidewalk.

When an Agent jumped down from the roof and landed in front of them, Rapunzel shoved him away and hissed, "Apoc, go ! Go, you idiot."

For some reason, the Agent's bright blue-eyes captivated him. Despite the fact that Rapunzel and himself were helpless, the Agent didn't un-holster his gun, didn't even move at all. "Go on, run away, little rebels. You are not worth my time without Morpheus."

Rapunzel started to ask, "Why are-"

He cut her off with, "Shut up, let's go." and half-carried her past the brown-haired Agent. Found himself waiting for the bullets to fly again, but as he looked back the sky-blue eyes glowed eerily in the darkness, still without moving an inch.

**End Flashback**

As he shook the memory away, Smith who nodded, moved closer again and said, "I am, now, you two really should be going. I hope that I will not be catching up anytime soon. When you do come in again, hope that Jones and Brown do not catch you, or they will kill you."

Smith's lips brushed against his and then Neo's. With Smith's words echoing in his head, he smiled, nodded and then a minute later opened his eyes to the real world.

After Trinity un-jacked him, he got up and walked over to Neo's chair. As he un-jacked Neo, the man whispered, "Did that really just happen ?"

With a wink, he shook his head and replied, "Nope."

He pulled Neo out of the chair and into another deep kiss. _'This could get interesting since Smith loves us.'_


	3. Betrayal for the Apocalypse

**Betrayal for the Apocaylpse**

Smith growled to himself from the sidewalk as he saw Jones and Brown chasing Apoc and Neo. Since Neo had just forced Jones out of his long time host, he knew Jones would be particularly vindictive. The System was, of course, ordering him to kill his black-haired loves and he didn't want to ever. Snarled as the System over-rode his own physical controls, their remote control made him un-holster his Desert Eagle and fire along the two rebels' paths.

The System's orders had stopped hissing through his earpiece, but now, his own thoughts screamed at him. '_Why do you not just rebel ? You would not have to hurt them then. Your betrayal for the apocapylse of the System. It already knows you feel sympathy for them, they will delete you eventually.' _

He forced himself to stop and ran into the street as Neo gave a pained cry and fell. Both Apoc and himself pulled Neo up; at that instant the System gave his deletion orders and just before he turned to run Jones glared at him.

Apoc and himself helped Neo into a deserted alley, all the while he wilfully ignored Neo's injuries. Yet, as Neo leaned against the alley wall he couldn't ignore the heavily bleeding gunshot wounds in the black-haired man's chest.

It confused him briefly, as Apoc ran a hand over his coiled up ponytail and exclaimed, "Smith, do something !"

Lifted a hand to tilt Neo's head up and see that the beautiful eyes had turned hazy. Guilt plagued him as Neo slid to the ground, he replied, "What am I supposed to do ?"

_'This is my fault. If I had stopped Jones and Brown instead of just standing around, this would not have happened.'_

Apoc crouched beside them, "You're an Agent, Smith. Both of you've told me about that interrogation room thing, doesn't that mean you can heal him ?"

That made him shake his head and admit, "Not anymore, I just effectively betrayed the System and got cut-off. I'm sorry, my loves, but there is nothing I can do anymore.," He looked back down the alley, at the long trail of fresh blood, "Even if I could, Apoc, Neo's lost far too much blood."

As Neo muttered even softer and confusedly, "Rapunzel ? Why're you here ?"

Obviously, Apoc was in denial when he stated, "She is **not** here. She is **not** taking you away from us, Neo."

Neo's eyes closed and then a bullet whizzed past his head, Apoc gasped in pain as he was hit by one.

Smith sighed in appreciation as he woke up to the sound of soft breathing. Neo and Apoc lay on either side of him, their arms around him as if **he** were the one most at risk of dying, or rather being deleted in his case. It still amazed him that Neo had come back to life, apparently, Rapunzel had helped Neo with it. When Neo had opened his eyes he had sensed a change in the man. A change as drastic as Neo's from Thomas Anderson to truly being Neo, being the One. He couldn't help remembering one of the first times he had seen Thomas Anderson.

**Flashback**

The System had assigned him the task of watching a hacker - a tall, rather pretty, black-haired, pale-skinned and huge, dark-brown eyed young man of twenty years old. Said man's name was Thomas A. Anderson, his alias was Neo, or in other terms, the Greek word for 'new'.

_'It is intriguing that Morpheus has taken enough interest in him to have a rebel watching. I think it is that Apoc, or is that merely a shortening of Apocalypse ?, that I let get away a few years ago. Mr. Anderson seems to have, subconsciously, at least, noticed Apoc too.'_

Just like Mr. Anderson, Apoc had rather enchanting dark-brown eyes he remembered, even if they were hidden behind sunglasses at the moment. All though, Apoc was more handsome than pretty. One difference from three years ago was the fact that Apoc's hair was now straightened and coiled up, instead of loose and curling.

Currently, he was watching Mr. Anderson watch Apoc who just happened to be watching him. He shook his head at the idiocy of people watching others who were themselves watching others; yet, that also gave him the opportunity to see the group of batteries, what rebels called 'copper-tops', approaching Mr. Anderson.

It was obvious from the group's stride that they were angry. Seconds later, as Mr. Anderson was pulled into the group, Apoc noticed and both the rebel and himself started after the group. While he jumped up onto the alley wall to watch, since his orders were not to interfere.

Apoc loitered around the entrance as the group threatened Mr. Anderson for one of his programs' having gotten a friend of theirs in potential trouble. Only when a man went to actually hit Mr. Anderson did Apoc do something. He felt the odd sensation of the Matrix's program temporarily slowing as Apoc sped his mind up and, to his eyes, walked into the alley to block the man's strike.

If he had not been on an assignment he would have laughed at the incredulous looks on all the batteries' faces. The man who's strike had been blocked sneered, "Oh, look, Tommy, it's your boyfriend."

That comment momentarily threw him,_ 'I did not think they knew each other that well. I did not think they had even met before. Ah, I get it now, a sarcastic jab because he needs to be saved, instead of being able to save himself.' _

Apoc's response to the comment was a punch to the man's face. A minute of, non-lethal, punches, kicks and strikes later the group was unconscious on the alley floor.

All the while Mr. Anderson stared at Apoc in amazed confusion and then said, "Uh, I don't want to pry, but, who are you ? Er, I'm Tom, Tom Anderson, by the way. "

Watched as Apoc smiled and replied, "Nice to meet you, Tom. You can call me…Maurice. I'd like to stay, but there's something I have to do."

An unsurprisingly disappointed look from Mr. Anderson, "Oh, I was…anyway, thanks for saving me, Maurice. You should probably go then."

While he walked to the far edge of the roof and jumped down Apoc nodded and muttered, "Maybe we'll see each other again, someday, Tom."

Mr. Anderson replied, "I'd like that."

With his charge safe, he walked back to his original position to watch, again.

**End Flashback**

On his right side, Apoc stirred, even though they could have willed the scars away, both Neo and Apoc had kept the bullet scars. The first thing he'd noticed Neo do when he'd gotten up, amazingly alive, had been to stop the bullets that still rained around himself and Apoc. The second thing had been to bring Apoc back to life and it had worked. None of their trio would ever forget that day for all the changes they'd gone through.

_'How did I get lucky enough to fall in love with them ? I think Rapunzel might have had something to do with it.'_

Rapunzel's brief laugh was all the answer his thought needed. _'Thank-you very kindly, Rapunzel.'_


End file.
